Dennis Warns Testers Over Race Deals

That is the view of their team boss Ron Dennis, who fears that the pair could be used by rival teams simply as a means of getting hold of valuable inside-knowledge of McLaren - before being unceremoniously dumped.

"There is an obvious attraction for our two test drivers because they have a tremendous amount of valuable knowledge of the car, the systems and the developments," said Dennis.

"And to a certain degree I do feel they are a little bit vulnerable to being pulled into another team, sucked dry of the information and then discarded. I and they will be mindful of that if those opportunities present themselves."

Despite his fears, however, Dennis has made it clear that he will not stand in the way of either test driver if they wanted to go racing next year. In particular, Wurz has been linked to a seat at the new BMW team.

"Clearly, it is absolute policy that we will not stand in the way of a driver's career and if the opportunity for those guys to race comes up then we will encourage them into those opportunities," he added. "It is too early to know whether either of them have been offered opportunities."